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In NY for 1 night!

sadistick

By sadistick
in New York: Dining

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sadistick

sadistick

Posted
Posted

Good day to you all!

I will be headed down to NY on Oct. 1st for business and will be staying at the Marriott Marquis at Times Square.

I have been to NY in the past, and have had fantastic meals at the likes of Vong, Gotham Bar & Grill, Fresh as well as a few other tasty meals.

I will be arriving in the evening and am not looking to travel long distances from the hotel.

Looking for some great eats (under $50/person would be nice) that are within walking distance (I can handle a bit of a walk, but nothing crazy!)

Many thanks in advance.

raji

raji

Posted
Posted
Good day to you all!

I will be headed down to NY on Oct. 1st for business and will be staying at the Marriott Marquis at Times Square.

I have been to NY in the past, and have had fantastic meals at the likes of Vong, Gotham Bar & Grill, Fresh as well as a few other tasty meals.

I will be arriving in the evening and am not looking to travel long distances from the hotel.

Looking for some great eats (under $50/person would be nice) that are within walking distance (I can handle a bit of a walk, but nothing crazy!)

Many thanks in advance.

If it were me I'd call in a 6:30p reservation and walk 10 blocks north to Yakitori Totto - if you order carefully, no alcohol, you can easily get out for under $50 a person.

Also from right there I'd recommend Marseilles & Hell's Kitchen

http://www.raji.com/blog/

http://wrightandwrong.metsblog.com/

NYC and Tokyo

Fat Guy

Fat Guy

Posted
Posted

If you like pasta, Becco is a great deal.

Szechuan Gourmet has had a lot of good buzz in these parts.

Esca is at or beyond the outer limit of that budget but is excellent.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

Nathan

Nathan

Posted
Posted

Esca and Insieme are the best restaurants in easy walking distance. but you're going to spend more than $50 a head (though not massively more if you order carefully and just have one glass of wine)

Sneakeater

Sneakeater

Posted
Posted

It occurs to me that there are some things on the pub menu (NOT the dining room menu: the pub menu) at Keen's (36th St. right off 6th Ave.) that are very good and wouldn't break your budget.

GordonCooks

GordonCooks

Posted
Posted

For the best food. I might go low-end. A pastrami at Katz's, a Bahn mi at Nicky's, Congee Village, a slice, Gray's papaya, cheese plate at Artisanal, etc.

For a restaurant experience....Otto or Bar Jamon, maybe Scarpetta? Coming from Toronto, I'd go italian for a change.

sadistick

sadistick

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

Thank you all for the prompt suggestions -

Typically I do not go out for Italian food as I find I can prepare Italian fare as well as most places.

'Hautified' Mexican cuisine sounds intriguing to say the least and we are at a DEFINITE loss for quality Mexican food up in Toronto.

More suggestions are as always welcome and appreciated!

GordonCooks

GordonCooks

Posted
Posted
But he asked for something within walking distance of Times Square . . . .

It's not that bad - My usual Saturday morning route would be schlep down to the Union Square market - then over to E. Houston.

Nathan

Nathan

Posted
Posted (edited)

with all respect for your home-cooking skills,

really good high-end regional Italian is almost impossible to find in North America outside NYC (I can only think of a couple possiblities). Mexican, on the other hand, is not what we're good at.

Edited by Nathan (log)
DutchMuse

DutchMuse

Posted
Posted

I agree with Nathan, having lived in Los Angeles for 13 years before moving to NYC 12 years ago. Even though Mexican cuisine is not profoundly complicated, it just seems New York cannot get it right for some reason. Skip Mexican. I second the idea of Italian, or French--that's what NY does best, especially French.

Fat Guy

Fat Guy

Posted
Posted
Esca and Insieme are the best restaurants in easy walking distance.  but you're going to spend more than $50 a head (though not massively more if you order carefully and just have one glass of wine)

Depending how you define easy walking distance, I think the best restaurant within it may be Anthos. In the do-able-at-$50-for-dinner category, though, Esca is the one place where that might arguably be possible with very careful ordering.

Here's an Esca menu:

http://www.esca-nyc.com/

In addition to Nathan's point, I'd say that Esca is nothing like the normal expectation of Italian. It's really a minimalist seafood restaurant.

While I agree with the claims above that NYC Mexican is generally weak, I think Toloache is superb. Especially for someone coming from a city that's not in Texas or California or the Southwest, I think it's more than worthwhile.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

sadistick

sadistick

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
I would not recommend Esca or Toloache.. Esca is expensive and good to ok..

Alright, so what would you recommend Daniel?

So far I have 3 or 4 suggestions here that not all seem to be able to agree on...granted there will never be 100% agreement, but some more recommendations would be helpful.

bp1123

bp1123

Posted
Posted

I vote Toloache. The tamal de puerco will make you happy to be alive. Great tequila selections & it's very close to the hotel.

sickchangeup

sickchangeup

Posted
Posted
I vote Toloache.  The tamal de puerco will make you happy to be alive.  Great tequila selections & it's very close to the hotel.

I went to Toloache last week with a few former colleagues. They were very nice and understanding when one showed up late, one extra one showed up, when we spent about 20 minutes catching up and drinking instead of ordering, and when we ordered another round after asking for the bill. Not a single peep, no one made us feel uncomfortable or made us feel that someone else had the table reserved and I'll add that the place and the bar was full the whole time (Thursday night).

As for the food, although it wasn't the main purpose of the evening (rare, I know!), everything was very honest tasting and the flavors listed on the menu definitely came through in every dish - something somewhat rare in mexican food where bold flavors can overwhelm easily. I tasted the quessadilla with short rib, and the short ribs sung through very clearly. I ordered the cabeca tacos, and the veal cheeks were delicious, and carried the flavor of the taco. Unfortunately they were out of the grasshopper tacos so I didn't get to try those.

I also sampled about 3 different mezcals, each served in a snifter accompanied by a lime wedge. Pretty nice.

weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted

I believe either Esca or Toalache would be a decent choice, but you're going to have to order and drink judiciously if you want to stay within your budget. So, if you want Italian or Mexican, you'll do okay.

But, maybe it's even better to walk over to Szechuan Gourmet (W. 39th St.) and have a great meal (many say the best Szechuan food in New York), well within your limits, and drink as much beer as you want :smile: .

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

My eGullet FoodBog - A Tale of Two Boroughs

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